doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Got Double Gun Journal

Destry has a way with words, but like many of us he has too many to start. Thus he is a "taker-away" rather than a "putter-inner." The plover article started in a "I did this and that" diary format, which he reduced and reshuffled into a focused article about a most unusual hunt. And the refining of the story didn't cost any of the interesting good 'ol boy jargon and spin. Who else do you know who characterizes the total absence of light and color as: "black as a man's hat."

Destry does strange things and thus writes of the unusal, like his first article for Parker Pages about shooting doves by my daughter's swimming pool in VA, using the picnic-table awning for a blind, and ParkerDog retreiving the soggy, chlorinated birds. His article about wildfowl shooting next to a Detroit area corrogated-iron seawall while making a boat-blind out of, you guessed it--corrogated iron, is an example of good writing, which is to say "different than the usual me and joe...etc., ad naueasum."

One of these days he's going to finish his "Goose Wringing at McDonalds" story that he told one evening in my living room while we were consuming adult beverages and puffin' on pipes. Destry didn't know at the time that I clicked on my recorder; Nancy typed up his rambling ruminations and I sent him a hard copy for revision and editing two years ago. It's a hoot, but these things take time. I saw the scene of the crime this Labor Day. Someday when Destry is famous and probably deceased, the Southern Illinois Sportsmen will probably place a bronze marker to memorialize the transaction. Sort of like my old acquaintance Carol Doda (from my Navy days ca.1963-64) has in front of the infamous Condor Club on North Beach SF CA, although she was big in a different way. EDM

I find all this feedback interesting. It serves as a reminder to all contributors that there is a critical and attentive readership out there and we need to be on our game each and every issue.

Writers are human and some stuff comes out beter than other stuff, also different things excite different readers.

I'm off to proof read my next contribution to make sure it passes muster. Thanks for the wake up call boys! whatever the shortcomings of the DGJ may be, I'm glad it exists and I think it provides an outlet for people to explore and expound guns and ideas and research that would struggle to find equal space in any other publication.

As my old Purdey finisher repeatedly reminds me when we are looking at guns and others' work on them that may not be up to his standards... "any fool can criticise". So I try to find teh good in each article and see what I can learn from it rather than looking for the imperfect focus on a shot or the odd typo.

Wow Ed, talk about memories and times gone by, "Sort of like my old acquaintance Carol Doda (from my Navy days ca.1963-64) has in front of the infamous Condor Club on North Beach SF CA, although she was big in a different way." She would have looked good in bibs.

I also agree that the DGJ has great photos and there are some authors that I look forward to readng their articles. A few of them Tom Archer, EDM, and sometimes Sherman Bell have articles that when you start to read you can't put down, and then it comes to an end and you have to wait for the next issue.
As for the editing, no ones perfect and in my opinion I don't care, too many others things to read and look at and not worry about that.
It's a shame it is only 4 times a year and I think it is one of the nicest magazine out there. Since I am only interested in juxtaaposed shotguns, I can live with seeing some rifles now and then.
Also as Ed had said about the SSM, I don't care for the piles of doves shot, to me that is just greed. I can't believe all those doves are disposed of properly. There was once millions of Passenger Pigeons here, and greed wiped them out.
The other articles and some about dogs make it my second choice.

My copy arrived yesterday. You can "tune me out" of society for the next week while I devour every single word and savour the delicious photos. For me, EVERY issue is a long-anticipated smorgasbord!

To those who criticize this sensory feast I say, "If not this, then WHAT?"

It ain't perfect but it's what we've got and I enjoy it immensely, thanks to all who take the time to write and photograph the articles.

My one complaint, and I find it happens frequently, though less than in the past, is that it isn't always clear what captions belong to what photos and some photos have no captions. No a good thing from a technical perspective, it makes information gathering harder.

I look forward eagerly to each issue and am constantly amazed that there are enough people/topics/articles to fill the magazine each quarter. Let's face it, double guns, even with the addition of single shots, are a finite subject. Kudos to those writers who strive to submit fresh, relevent material and perspectives for our enjoyment.

Phil

My DGJ arrives almost a season late due to the vagaries of the mail. I read it to be educated on guns, not for its literary style and admit that a badly written or photographed piece detracts from the merit of any article. As for proof-reading and spell-checking, here is an Ode I once saved……..
K


OWED TO THE SPELL CHECKER

I have a spelling chequer -
It came with my PC
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea

Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it's weigh -
My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a bless sing.
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when aye rime.

To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should be proud.
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.

And now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know faults with in my cite;
Of non eye am a wear.

Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed to be a joule.
The checker poured o'er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.

That's why aye brake in two averse
By righting wants too pleas.
Sow now ewe sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear for pea seas!

Author Unknown

Kerryman, your "OWED TO THE SPELL CHECKER" is a hoot! It clearly points out one of the main problems with writing in this era: we no longer know how to spell! Guess I'm very old fashioned but I keep my archaic paper copy of Webster's Dictionary right beside my "pee seas". Sort of like a nice pre-war sidelock....some things just can't be improved on.

How-not "how man" sounds like Gene Hill to moi!! RWTF

Back on the actual topic, my issue was finally at the Post Office today. There must be some demand for it that Dan keeps printing it, but I'm getting pretty sick of 18 pages in every issue being devoted to British gun auctions. It would be very hard for me to care less about them.